Legislation to ensure that vulnerable residents are protected against abuse and incidents properly investigated is not effective, advocates say.

The numbers

Continuing a tradition we started in 2015, the Nova Scotia Advocate submitted a Freedom of Information request this November.

The Community Services response reveals that between April 2015 and August 2016 67 suspected cases of abuse were investigated. 34 cases of abuse were proven to have occurred, the remaining 33 were unfounded. Three cases were referred to police.

Leading the pack is an institution in Lower Sackville commonly referred to as Quest, but managed as three separate entities. Eight founded cases of resident-on-resident and staff-on-resident abuse occurred under its roof.

Altogether, the numbers suggest a significant increase over the 2013-15 numbers we reported earlier.

In 20 cases both the the abuser and the victim were residents, in 14 cases it was staff who abused a resident.

Residents engaged in emotional abuse of another resident eight times, sexual (non-consensual) abuse occurred four times, physical abuse six times, and in unspecified combinations of abuse happened two times.

Staff engaged in physical abuse four times and failed to provide adequate care two times. Physical abuse is defined as “resulting in pain, discomfort or injury, including slapping, hitting, beating, burning, rough handling, tying up or binding.”

As well, staff engaged in emotional abuse of residents three times. Four times staff engaged in unspecified combinations of abuse. One occurrence of financial abuse by staff is also reported, but what that entailed is not explained.

These numbers may not strike the reader as high, but keep in mind that we are looking at a population that probably does not exceed 2,000.

It’s also a population that is especially vulnerable to abuse, as Jean Coleman, director of the Nova Scotia Association for Community Living (NSACL) points out.  The NSACL is a province-wide association that advocates for people with intellectual disabilities.

“I would suspect not many speak up, only ones that communicate verbally would speak up,” says Coleman. “And some residents who have lived in these institutions for a long time may not know to raise it.”  

Abuse investigations not independent, police almost never informed, critics charge 

Coleman is not alone in fearing that we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of abuse at institutions.

But there are issues around legislation to protect residents from abuse as well. The cases reported in the Freedom of Information response were all investigated under the Protection of Persons in Care Act.

Coleman refers to widespread abuse of residents at the Riverton Residential Centre near New Glasgow, in 2009.  When one resident’s jaw was broken by staff, police were not called right away, once on the scene the affected resident was never interviewed, and at the end staff members were simply moved to another section within the same institution, she says.

Nothing would have happened at all, if it hadn’t been for the parents, Coleman concludes.

Brenda Hardiman, co-founder of Advocating Parents Nova Scotia, strongly agrees. “Why not call in the police every time abuse is found to have taken place,” she wonders.

The Department doesn’t even share the information from the abuse investigation with the police, it makes the decision whether to call in the police entirely on its own, Hardiman says.

Both Coleman and Hardiman want an independent investigator under the Act, rather than an investigation conducted by departmental staff.

Community Services doesn’t believe there is a problem. Not every case is severe enough to call the cops, Heather Fairbairn, spokesperson for the Department explains.

“Activities that may be considered as abuse under the PPCA vary in nature and severity.They may not be violations under the Criminal Code of Canada such as some forms of emotional abuse (e.g., teasing, name-calling) and failure to provide adequate care (e.g., quality or quantity of food),” writes Fairbairn.

That may be so, says Hardiman, but surely physical abuse is criminal abuse, no matter the severity. “If a teacher at one of our schools were to slap a student the police would be called in, guaranteed. What makes institutions so different?”

And how do we know what incidents get shrugged off by Community Services before they even reach the investigation stage, Hardiman asks.  

“All referrals received by the Department of Community Services undergo an inquiry and cases where reasonable grounds have been established are investigated,” Fairbairn writes, without providing further details.

“People should be out in the community”

Jeannie Whidden is a member of the People First Nova Scotia executive. Members of that organization have been labeled as living with intellectual disabilities. Its motto is nothing about us without us.

Whidden also believes there is more abuse happening in institutions than we are being told.

“I believe that a few have stepped forward, but a lot have not. They are going to be punished for speaking up. They have very little freedom in institutions,” says Whidden.

“You hear stories all the time about people having their weekly phone call taken away. Or an outing. We heard these stories from different people across the province,” she says.

Hardiman thinks better training and more staff is an urgent requirement. But ultimately she wants these large institutions closed. So does Coleman.

And so does Jeannie Whidden.

“Abuse in institutions in Nova Scotia should not be happening. These institutions should be closed. People should be out in the community,” says Whidden.

“Look at Nichelle Benn,” she adds. Benn is a young woman who had frequent run-ins with staff and the justice system while she was institutionalized. People frequently compared her with  Ashley Smith, the teenager with behavioural issues who died by self-inflicted strangulation while incarcerated in Ontario. After a long campaign Benn finally won the right to live in a community setting.

“Nichelle finally got out on her own, and now she is doing great, she has her own apartment and everything,” says Whidden.

Read the Freedom of Information response here.

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“Persistence pays off is is what I keep telling myself. The only way to get change is to not give up, even when I feel like it. I love him  and I want a better life for him,” she says.

Matthew lives with autism and severe mood disorders that make his behaviour unpredictable and at times aggressive. The aggression often turns inward, as he tends to self-harm.

Meisner believes that to be his best Matthew needs a different environment than Emerald Hall.

But more than that, she wants to know that Matthew is safe, and a string of abusive events by staff, either proven or as yet alleged, have not offered her the peace of mind she craves.  

“I wonder if this shit is retarded”

The most recent allegations that Matthew had been abused surfaced in October. In an effort to subdue him, staff placed a pillowcase over his head. Staff also constrained him in a so-called time out chair for almost two hours, an hour longer than policies allow.

Two witnesses reported that the person implicated referred to Matthew as “that little fucker” and said “I wonder if this shit is retarded” within Matthew’s hearing distance.  

Meisner has felt ignored by management and staff ever since Matthew arrived at Emerald Hall twelve years ago. “I have been as marginalized as Matthew has been,” says Meisner. “It’s a horrible feeling, but you call them on it.”

Earlier complaint investigated for nine months and counting

As an example, Meisner talks about how police are looking into the most recent incident only because she insisted.

“When I was first informed about this complaint I said did you call the police and `the manager said well, we reported it to the protection for persons in care act, (triggering a government investigation). It was three times I asked about contacting the police, and then they told me to do  it myself.”  So she did.

An earlier complaint filed by Meisner has been under investigation for nine months now.  That complaint deals with Matthew spending most of his days locked up in his room.

“Matthew looked very unwell, and he looked like he was losing weight,” says Meisner. “We asked about camera footage, and they were very evasive, and when we insisted they told us that footage is not available anymore, so it really felt as if we were getting the run around.”

Nine months is a long time for an investigation. But it might never have reached the that stage if it hadn’t been for Meisner’s refusal to give up.

“When I made that complaint, initially it did not go past the inquiry stage, which consisted of a phone call between the investigation officer and the unit manager. I asked, you just telephoned that person and she answered your questions, that was it? I got kind of mad about that,” says Meisner.

Meisner found a policy that essentially said that if there had been a prior complaint, new complaints must go directly to the investigation phase.

“So I called them and brought that to their attention, and then they called me back and said, yes, we’re going to investigate,” says Meisner.

There is little the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) can say about Matthew’s case specifically, wrote Kristen Lipscombe, spokesperson for the NSHA, in response to our earlier story in October.

“Nova Scotia Health Authority takes the privacy and confidentiality of our patients very seriously, and has an obligation to protect their personal information under provincial legislation. We cannot answer questions or release details on specific cases,” Lipscombe wrote.

I am made to feel like I am a troublemaker

“I am made to feel like I am a troublemaker, somebody who doesn’t accept her son’s situation,” says Meisner. “They’re just thinking she will get tired, and she will eventually stop.”

But Meisner is a troublemaker who frequently has been proven correct in her allegations.

Two earlier suspicions that her son was being abused by Emerald Hall staff were found to be justified, Meisner says.

Shortly after Matthews’s arrival at Emerald Hall it was discovered that he had been hit by front line staff while being held.

If it wasn’t for two courageous new workers reporting the physical abuse by their colleagues nobody would have known.  The case went to court and two workers lost their jobs.

There was also an instance in 2014 when a front line worker was found to have used excessive force. That worker, although no longer in charge of Matthew, still works at Emerald Hall.  

They always want a telephone call

Over the years Meisner has learned how to navigate bureaucracies. For instance, she always documents her interactions and makes sure they’re on record.

“When I email, I always include others up the chain of command, and I tell you, they don’t like it. It was remarked to me that there was no need to include head office. They always want a telephone call. I said, I don’t do phone calls,” says Meisner.

Meisner is also fearless when it comes to defending her son.

“Not that long ago Matthew and I  had lunch together, and he wanted to go upstairs to the canteen, he loves it when he can go make his own purchases, his treats and stuff. The staff said, no, he is not allowed to go there, doctor’s orders,” Meisner tells the Nova Scotia Advocate.

“I said, well, I am going against doctor’s orders. People were all buzzing around, they were going to the manager. I just took Matt upstairs, and he was so happy. I took him upstairs, and nobody died.”

How many Matthews are out there?

Articulate and fearless is a rare combination. Throw in stubbornness, and not many parents will match Meisner in the qualities that allow her to stand up for her son.

But you have to wonder how many Matthews are out there who aren’t so lucky as to have a loved one such as Meisner advocate for them.

76 incidents of abuse were found to have occurred at institutions for people with developmental disabilities province-wide between 2012 and 2015, according to a government response to a Freedom of Information request I submitted on behalf of the Halifax Media Co-op.

Those numbers do not include the Nova Scotia Hospital.

Staff were perpetrators of the abuse in 32 cases. The remainder involved abuse between residents.

That’s a lot of abuse, considering we are dealing with a relatively small population of 2,340 persons. When you do the math it suggests that one in twenty residents of larger facilities fell victim to abuse in the three year period.

You wonder how many of such incidents remain unreported, given that residents are  vulnerable and sometimes lack basic communication skills.

One thing that helped Meisner is the support of Brenda Hardiman, and the Advocating Parents of Nova Scotia (APNS) organization she chairs, Meisner says.  Hardiman fought her own battles to move her daughter out of an institution, and has been supporting many other parents in similar situations ever since.

“Having Brenda and APNS made a huge difference. They’re there to help, and they will help. There’s strength in numbers,” says Meisner.

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